Trust the Dreams
by Ljiljana
Summary: Six months ago, Naruto had a set of really odd dreams; each and every one of them was about kissing this guy he had gone to school with. And now, the dreams are starting again, more intense than ever. AU, late twenties


**Warnings**: I can't think of anything that could offend anyone in this story. Except homophobes, anyway.

**Genre**: drama, romance, supernatural

* * *

><p><em><strong>Trust the Dreams<strong>_

_Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity_.

Khalil Gibran

_'But he's a guy!' Naruto whined. _

_They were sitting in a circle on the carpet of Sakura's room, playing a game. A kissing game. And because Sasuke was a guy Sakura couldn't possibly make Naruto kiss _him_, right?_

_But she said, "So what?" and Naruto's stomach flipped, fell down and then rose again. She was giving him an annoyed look, the one that said she would not let him play at all if he disobeyed her. If she saw him scared, if she saw him weak, she would abandon him. Naruto thought about his always empty room back home and looked over at Sasuke, decision made._

_"What? No, no way. We're too old for this, anyway," Sasuke said. He tried to get up. It was too late, for Naruto was already at his side next to the bed, holding him down. There was no point in prolonging the experience; he grabbed Sasuke's chin. "Don't be an idiot, she's just looking for a…"_

_At that point, Naruto would have kissed him anyway – or he would have punched him, maybe – because there was a bitter bile in his mouth that had nothing with the fact he was about to kiss another boy. Sasuke shut his mouth in time to welcome Naruto with a thin line where his lips should have been, which was just as well. That way Naruto could do what was asked of him without actually having to do…_

_And the world shifted, faired, woke up. Sasuke opened his mouth, closed his arms around Naruto and yanked him closer. His tongue was warm, hesitant, soft, taste of it kind of bitter and salty from the snacks. Naruto moaned and snuggled closer, determent not to lose that welcome warmth… _

_That's not right, _Naruto thought and woke up.

Despite the feeling of deep, profound happiness that was still burning in his chest , Naruto groaned aloud and the feeling started to melt away. That crap again. He had been hoping that those dreams were gone forever. Six months ago, when he had them for a few weeks, Naruto had downgraded from a cheerful high school P.E. teacher to a rapidly thinning zombie.

Maybe they weren't back, though. Maybe it was just a regular dream. It was a little more vivid than usual but...

He wasn't kidding anyone. There was no mistaking that feeling that came with waking up. It was like – like someone had cut off his Siamese twin when he wasn't looking. Or something like that, only less disturbing.

It was not even three in the morning. Naruto glared at the clock that was cheerfully showing the offensive numbers in fluorescent green, then at the ceiling. He wouldn't get back to sleep. Chances were – and he knew that from experience – that he would get more rest dozing over the kitchen table. There was nothing for him in the bed but another crazy dream involving a guy he hasn't seen in years in yet another utterly impossible kissing scenario.

Most of the time, the dreams were based in a real event, in Naruto's memories of Sasuke. Sometimes, he wouldn't recognize the setting, but those were rare.

That night, the dream was based on a real memory. It was Sakura's birthday party. She was turning fifteen or so. Obviously, it hadn't went as well in reality as it did in the dream, Naruto remembered very well that he had a bruise on his cheek for weeks after. Sasuke had punched him. It was a little hazy right now what exactly had happened, but that was normal after such vivid dream that obviously went differently.

Naruto got out of the bed and made coffee. He hated it with venom, but he did not want to go back to bed that night. There was nothing on TV that was interesting enough to dispel the memory of the ghostly kiss that was still lingering, but that did not discourage Naruto to keep looking for it.

Around five in the morning, he dozed off, with predictable results – he was late for work.

* * *

><p><em>"Damn it, Naruto. I told you can't have them." <em>

_Naruto barely bothered to glance up. His back was cold where it was touching the wall, but he needed to keep reading, because there was only about fifteen minutes left until the next class, when they had a test he'd forgotten completely to study for. _

_"Go away," he mumbled. It would be preferable if he didn't have to take Sasuke's notes but Naruto understood them better than Sakura's or, God forbid, Lee's. The three of them were the only ones taking them properly. Sasuke's were free of Sakura's little pink hearts in every capital letter – those were distracting as hell. And they were also free of Lee's lists of appropriate punishments for every fact he would fail to remember – they made Naruto want to do push ups to erase guilt about forgetting to study. _

_And he was getting distracted again. Right, where was he? Ah, yes - __Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World W…_

_The notebook disappeared from Naruto's knee, where he'd been balancing it. He blinked twice before he remembered that Sasuke had somehow found his secret place behind the hedge in the secluded part of the schoolyard. _

_"Oh, come on! You know all that crap – just let me read a couple of more sentences."_

_Sasuke scanned the open page of his notebook with distrust. "No. You'll tear it up." _

_Naruto – who was trying his best to make puppy eyes to convince Sasuke – gave up on it and glowered, "I'm not five! If I wanted to tear it up, I would've done it already." _

_"I told you. You can't have it." _

_Naruto jumped at his feet. "You selfish bastard! You just want to see me fail the test!"_

_"No," Sasuke said, his head cocked a little bit to the side. "It just wouldn't be as fun as the first fifty times were." _

_Naruto had enough. There was a small voice in his head reminding him that he would be expelled if he got into another fight, but he discarded it. It would be worth it, just to see Sasuke's nose bleed. _

_He wanted to make that pleasant vision reality so he lunched himself, fist first, in the direction of Sasuke's face. With irritating but impressive quickness, Sasuke moved just enough to the side for Naruto to miss. He pushed him away from himself, so violently that Naruto hit the wall behind him with his back and with his head. His vision blurred slightly and he was about to curse and swear and mourn yet another lousy grade… _

_But then Sasuke was there, close again, within Naruto's reach. He wouldn't hit again, not now, not like this, so Naruto grabbed one side of his collar and pulled him closer. _

_"What are you doing?" Sasuke hissed. _

_"I'm kissing you," Naruto answered. It was so simple to tell the truth – just as it was simple for his fingers to discover softens of Sasuke's hair, as it was simple to pull unresisting Sasuke closer yet. _

_"Stop it," Sasuke requested. The protest was insignificant, because his breath was warm and alive with electricity and it hit Naruto's nose. He didn't mean it, Naruto knew it, so he entangled his fingers tighter into Sasuke's oddly upward strands of hair, sure that pulling him closer for the third time would be enough. He was right; Sasuke leaned in the rest of the way on his own, deepening the kiss immediately after a light brush of their lips with the urgency of someone in severe lack of time. It was weird and clumsy and they were pressing into each other far too firmly, so it hurt. _

_The wall was hard behind Naruto, the surface harsh against his back. He didn't want to break the kiss, ridiculously wet and toothy as it was, but as soon as Sasuke backed off a bit to get some air…_

"Naruto!"

Startled, Naruto jolted upward. He was sitting at his desk. Through the door Sakura had left open, he could hear balls echoing through the gym. At least the children didn't seem to have noticed their teacher had fallen asleep in his office.

"It's those dreams again," Sakura said when Naruto only glared at her for waking him up. She was trying to look sympathetic, but amusement was twisting her face into a funny expression that didn't quite convey either.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep very well." Self-consciously, Naruto tried to flatten his untamable hair and rub the sleep out of his eyes. "I look like hell, don't I?"

Sakura openly smiled, "No, actually. All that action you're getting in your sleep reflects well on your awake self."

Naruto frowned and pressed his lips together. He was half-expecting them to hurt from that extremely violent kiss, but of course they weren't. Why would they? It was just a dream. It didn't happen; none of it had ever happened.

The thought rang falsely in Naruto's mind. It felt like he was lying to himself.

Still irrationally upset from waking up and tired from the overall lack of sleep, Naruto was afraid he'd say things he didn't want her to know. It was one thing to talk about odd things your subconscious can make up in your sleep, completely different to explain how much it hurt to be woken up from one of them. Better to keep it to himself, right?

"Don't wanna talk about it," he said when Sakura opened her mouth again. "I want a sandwich." Well, that part was true. He was hungry.

"Good, I'd hate to think I was sitting in a stuffy cab that stank of cabbage for twenty minutes only so I could have a lunch with you for nothing." Sakura put the bag she was holding on his desk. Heavenly smell was spreading from it and Naruto's mood improved. "But I want details. How many dreams did you have so far? Are they the same ones like last time? Did it finally move up from kissing?"

Naruto, already uncovering his lunch carton box, told her, "Shut up."

She followed his example, starting on her own portion. She knew he would tell her everything, because he always had before, so she waited patiently. Their friendship had evolved; it was a far cry from the way they had started in the last year of elementary school.

The dream he had the previous night, about that truth or dare game that went wrong reminded him of how long it took for them to become this close. Sakura used to care too much about what other people thought. But Naruto had liked her back in school and he hadn't given up until she warmed up to him. By that time, his crush wasn't what it was when he didn't know her all that well. But they remained friends. They even progressed to best friends.

"The first one, I never had before. It was about that game of truth and dare we'd played on your birthday," Naruto said quietly. The door to his office was still opened, and the noise of students playing some game in the hall was continuous. "The one right now… I had before. It was about that fight in second year of high school, when I stole Sasuke's notes before a history exam."

"I remember," Sakura answered. "Sasuke broke your arm that day."

Naruto remembered wearing cast for weeks, but the actual event was blurry in his mind. He tried recoiling exactly what Sasuke did… But all he could see in his mind was grabbing Sasuke's collar and pulling him closer.

"Have you noticed," Sakura said thoughtfully when Naruto had nothing to answer. "That almost all your dreams are spin-offs of the fights the two of you had had?"

Naruto grunted, because she wouldn't take kindly to him opening his full mouth only to answer positively.

"It's almost," she continued, in the same pensive tone, "As if you are having some sort of – visions, on how the things could have turned out. How they should have happened. Maybe you two were meant to be together."

Naruto thought of that. He considered it, once or twice, usually while still too sleepy to chase those upsetting and embarrassing thoughts away. He wouldn't admit how appealing it sounded, so he feigned incredulity, "Sakura! That is horrible! And anyway, Sasuke hated me." He couldn't quite bring him self to say that he hated Sasuke in turn, because that was simply not true and Sakura knew it.

"Who knows what Sasuke was thinking and feeling?" she dismissed with ease. "I sure don't. What does he feel in your dreams?"

Naruto glared at her, "How should I know? I'm not dreaming it from his point of view."

"But you're dreaming about kissing him. You can tell a lot about how someone feels about you by the way they react. Does he kiss you back?"

"Yeah." _Sometimes, he kisses me first. Sometimes, I think I'll die from happiness when he does._

Uhh. It was still too early for his mind to function properly. All that mush couldn't be healthy.

"Mechanically or he enjoys it? Does he puts his hands on you? Does he…?"

"Oh God, Sakura, shut up," Naruto interrupted her. He was losing his appetite and it had nothing to do with revulsion. "He participates rather willingly, yes. Please stop reminding me of the details. I have half a day to get through and then most likely a restless night waiting for me."

Sakura gathered papers and boxes in silence, her mouth pursed. "Fine, you don't have to talk about it. I'll tell you again what I told you last year, though. You need to talk to Sasuke. It's not unheard of for people to have insistent and vivid dreams about someone. Regardless of what I've said just now, mind is an odd place and does odd things. This all could simply mean that you had some sort of crush on him at some point and your mind wants a closure."

"I don't want to talk to him," Naruto grumbled. Why would he? Their interactions had never ended in anything but violence and insults. It would be so much harder to go through it after the dreams. "I don't even know where to find him."

"I could probably track him down. Do you want me to?"

"No! Really, thank you, but it will go away. Like it did the last time."

Sakura looked skeptical and worried as she prepared to leave. All Naruto wanted was to lower his head on his desk and get some proper sleeping done, but he his job waiting for him.

* * *

><p><em>Sasuke's hair was brushing the headrest, his eyes were half-closed. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the sight of him, so quiet and relaxed, sitting in Naruto's apartment. <em>

_Sasuke noticed him smiling and meditative expression became a narrow look, "What?" _

_"I dunno," Naruto answered, openly grinning by then. "I haven't seen you in a long time. You look different."_

_"Different how?"_

_"Hmm," Naruto thought about it, glancing at Sasuke's clothes just to break the eye contact that was starting to make him itchy. There was nothing really different about Sasuke, he was still wearing plain clothes and he still had same hair and he was still making a question of a simple smile, but… "More adult, I guess."_

_It wasn't exactly what he wanted to say. Sasuke had always been more adult than everyone else. It wasn't really a compliment. What he meant was, more attractive. More kissable. _

_But in answer, he got a mirror of the searching look he gave Sasuke earlier; a quick scan of his face, hair, clothes and hands that were resting in his lap. Self-consciously, Naruto tried to flatten his hair where it always annoyingly stuck upward, but Sasuke had finished his assessment before he managed it, "I see what you mean."_

_Naruto wasn't so sure that he did see, so he met Sasuke's eyes again. There is a lot you can read from the way someone looks at you. That was barely a half-truth when it came to Sasuke, because his face was closed off most of the time. But even guarded, his expression right then was more than enough to make Naruto's heart speed up._

_Without thinking about it, he rose to his knees and closed most of the distance between them quickly. Sasuke frowned, "What are you doing?"_

_But as he made no attempt to pull away or stop him, Naruto rested his hand on the couch at the both sides of him and leaned in to kiss him._

_It was a light, questioning kiss, lips on lips. There was no response for several long seconds. Naruto resisted the urge to turn the question into a demand, with a lot of effort. He retreated, but only a little. His eyes remained closed and when he sighed his breath bounced back instantly and brushed his skin warmly. It was hard to move away. He wanted this more than he realized. _

_Sasuke shifted, maybe finally out of his shock. Naruto inhaled deeply one last time, taking in Sasuke's scent and warmth. He started to draw back, only there was now a hand on his shoulder, pressing him firmly to remain where he was. He opened his eyes to give Sasuke a hopeful and apologetic smile. The hand slipped further down his neck, stroking the line of his hair before Sasuke kissed him._

_He was firmer than Naruto was, waiting impatiently until the few seconds of surprise melted away and Naruto opened his mouth to accept the kiss. Like in some grave hurry, Sasuke skipped over gentle introductions of the first kiss, over mappings and searching. He demanded a fight, using his lips and tongue like weaponry. He demanded familiarity and intimacy and fervor and there was no doubt at all, they had both been waiting for a long time on this kiss…_

Naruto woke up at the break of the dawn. He stared at the ceiling and resisted hitting things or crying for several long minutes, until the whirlwind of emotions eased up a little with the dream slowly – very slowly - fading.

Fuck it all. He had to get up. There was a race next week and he had to pick out the students who were to participate.

* * *

><p>"Alright, you all," Naruto said, rubbing his eyes. It didn't help much, his sight was still blurry. "The start line is also the finish line. I'll be waiting right here for you to return. The track is marked, so follow little blue hand-made flags and don't try to cut through the lawns, because that's cheating."<p>

He was too tired for this. There was a marathon being held in their town, in honor of one thing or another – Naruto wasn't really listening. Each school was required to send at least five students from each year so they would make sure enough people showed up. Their school, though, had no running track and the stadium was too far away, so in order to find the fastest runners in his class Naruto had to measure, mark and make his students run down a park lane.

Technically, he knew who his fastest runners were, but because with participation came an instant higher grade, he had to give everyone the same chance.

"Girls first! Let's go."

They lined up and waited for him to give a sign, while boys cheered and teased. Several girls, he noticed, were wearing jeans. One even had a skirt and wore huge earrings. He was too tired to send her away, though. Actually, she must have guessed that he wasn't at his best if she was attempting to participate dressed as she was.

Naruto changed his mind, gritted his teeth and yelled at her to get out of the start line. She looked a little startled and sheepish, but she obeyed immediately.

Naruto gave them the sign and they started to run, followed by the loud roar of enthusiastic cheering that made his headache five times worse. He tried his best to ignore the stabbing pain, and raised the binoculars to follow the race. Not only someone could fall and get hurt, but he also meant what he said. He didn't want them to cheat. It was a thing he hated with all his might and was very strict about it in class.

They had started too fast, so they began slowing down before they even reached half the way. Naruto was expecting as much. A little after they ran past the line of portable WC stalls, he lost the sight of them. The bushes and a children playground were in his line of sight. He scanned carefully forward, waiting for them to appear and swore under his breath. He wasn't expecting to be blinded like that, it took about thirty seconds until he could see them again. Everything seemed fine, so Naruto relaxed a little.

They ended the race just as he had expected them to. But he wrote their names down dutifully, cursing the sun that climbed high enough to glare at him over the treetops.

When the boys started their round, Naruto walked around with binoculars, looking for a spot he could see beyond the playground as well. There was a small stone bridge over a small wet spot that had possibly been a decorative pond at some point, so he climbed up there. It seemed like it would work, so he waited.

Someone was walking toward him, he could hear the footsteps approaching. Naruto pushed himself closer to the knee-high banister to let them without having to stop watching the boys. The little bridge was entirely too narrow, but not very high.

"Naruto?"

Startled by the sound of the voice speaking up behind him, because it was too close and strikingly familiar, Naruto swirled around. Binoculars fell out of his suddenly numb fingers and smashed. Stunned expression on his face, Sasuke stepped back on instinct when Naruto startled him and tipped over the edge of the bridge.

Naruto reached out and grabbed his shirt to steady him. As if released by the contact, a flood of panicky thoughts overwhelmed him. Some of them insisted that he was missing the race or that Sakura was going to pay if she had something to do with it, but they mostly came down to dozens variations of 'Oh, my God, it's Sasuke, what the hell am I supposed to do now?'

Ignoring obvious solutions, such as 'who cares about the race?', 'better buy her flowers' and 'kiss him, of course', Naruto forced his eyes away from Sasuke's livid face and noticed that he was gingerly touching the area around his ankle.

"Sasuke?" Naruto finally managed to speak, though it wasn't much. "Sasuke."

"I knew I should have just walked by you," Sasuke growled and tested his footing. It made him grimace, so it must have hurt. "Couldn't you hear me approaching?"

Naruto remembered the footsteps and that he moved to make space, but … He wasn't startled by someone being there, he was startled to hear Sasuke's voice.

Obviously, he had to lie about it. "No, I was too focused on the race. Are you hurt?"

"What race?"

Naruto blinked. He was missing the finish. He looked up just as the last of the boys were running though the finish line. He missed it completely. Shit.

"Shit. Oh, shit. They're going to eat me alive if I make them run again."

Sasuke glanced back at the gathered group, "Who are they?"

"Only the entire third year," Naruto sighed. Sasuke was still rubbing his ankle. "We have to participate in some stupid marathon next week. It's bothersome, because the stadium is too far away and they informed me at the last moment, so I didn't have the time to organize... What?"

"You are a teacher," Sasuke said. He sounded like someone made him say 'I like pink hearts', unconvinced.

Naruto crossed his arms and scowled, "So?"

"So, who in their right mind let you be a teacher?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something equally insulting only on Sasuke's expense but some raised voices came from the direction of his impatient students, so he instead snapped, "Well, this was fun. Especially the part when I almost knocked you off the bridge. Goodbye now."

He picked up broken pieces of his binoculars and turned to leave. He almost felt relieved – now he could tell Sakura that he did talk to Sasuke and that it changed nothing at all. Hey, and maybe that would shut his brain up as well.

"Naruto," Sasuke snapped behind him, shattering that small comfort. He turned around. "I need ice."

"I'm not an ice machine."

He wanted to sound uncaring, but he couldn't help but look at Sasuke's ankle again. It was covered again but Sasuke was obviously sparing that leg the largest part of his weight.

"Let me rephrase that. Where is the closest place I can get some ice from?"

Naruto thought about it. There was without a doubt many places that needed ice or frozen things around, like the ice cream parlor stationed next to the monument at the center of the park, the convenient store that was at the end of the lane Sasuke'd come down by and the cheap two story motel across from the playground. Yet, what came out when he opened his mouth to answer was, "My place."

It was true that his apartment was close. Naruto just couldn't believe he said that.

"Your place," Sasuke repeated. Naruto remembered the dream he had this morning and he had so suppress a shudder. The idea of having Sasuke over was slightly unnerving. But leaving him out there alone, with a painful ankle, was much worse.

"It's just over there," he waved toward his building, though only roof was visible thought the thick brunches of the oak trees. "And I always have ice."

Muscle strains were not an unfamiliar inconvenience for him. It went with the job.

"Alright," Sasuke said.

Naruto thought about acting fourteen and saying something like, "hey, I wasn't inviting you." Instead, he offered his hand to help Sasuke. It would be senseless to let him walk alone.

Sasuke took it after only a second of hesitation.

Even though Naruto was feeling like he was about to give way to a fever, it did occur to him by the time they were stepping off the stone bridge to a park lane that Sasuke could have grabbed his arm instead of clasping Naruto's fingers. But of course he wasn't about to say anything, because Sasuke's hand was warm and smooth and it felt really, really nice.

When the group of restless students saw them, they approached with a bunch of questions and complaints. Naruto attempted to listen, but it was no use and they were really loud.

"Quiet!" he finally snapped. "It doesn't matter who won. I didn't see it, so you'll have to run again tomorrow – "

"But it wasn't' our fault you weren't watching!" Someone from the back of the group called.

"Keep complaining and you'll be chasing a chicken on the basketball court for the rest of the year!" Someone protested, but most fell quiet. Basketball court in the schoolyard just wasn't big enough to be used in that way for punishment, but Naruto still remembered vividly when his own high school teacher had made him chase a rooster on a football stadium to fix his grade at the end of the year. His students knew that story well. He instructed them, "Pick up the flags, take them back to school and inform Professor Lee that I'll take you guys - and the fourth year - out tomorrow morning, that I had to go home. Then you're free to go, too. The girls don't have to show up tomorrow, obviously."

The group broke up.

"Sorry," he said quietly to Sasuke who was leaning slightly into him. "I couldn't just leave them there."

Sasuke snorted softly, "You're a teacher."

Naruto yanked him along toward the lane that was leading toward the exit closest to his building. "We've been through that already, remember?"

"It will take a while to get used to the idea."

"Shut up," Naruto advised him. Miraculously, Sasuke took the suggestion and remained quiet as they slowly walked out of the park side by side.

When Naruto turned them toward the exit of his building, he was still in wonder about practically holding hands with Sasuke. It wasn't that it felt romantic or anything, because Sasuke was leaning far too heavily into the support Naruto was providing, but it was still so very odd. Especially after days of dreaming about the guy and seeing him for the first time in years.

Sasuke grimaced looking up toward the highest floor, as someone very used to always getting the worst deal, "Is there an elevator?"

It was a sound question, with how old the building was. Naruto grinned.

"Nope." Sasuke's hands momentarily started slipping out of his. Naruto held it in place firmly. "Doesn't matter, my apartment's on the ground floor."

He attempted to straighten his smile as Sasuke glared at him.

The apartment was a mess. Naruto cringed at the sight of it. His pajama bottoms were thrown over the armrest if the couch and he'd left the plate from the hurried breakfast that morning on the table.

Sasuke was looking at the opposite wall, though, his head a little cocked to the side, just enough to allow some of his hair to fall forward over his forehead.

"I see you're still in contact with Sakura."

Naruto blinked and forced himself to look at what got Sasuke's attention. Sakura's handiwork, a huge framed painting made of grains and dry plants instead with colors, was taking out most space on that wall.

"I see you're familiar with Sakura's work," Naruto threw back, a little bit bitter. If Sasuke knew that, he should have at least known about Naruto's job.

"She was in some magazine."

"Hmm." Somehow, that explanation didn't help. "Sit there, I'll bring ice."

The kitchen was much neater than the living room. Naruto took his hot water bag out of the freezer. The water inside gurgled; added alcohol was stopping it from solidifying to ice. When he came back, Sasuke was watching his pictures on the shelves.

"Sit down, I said. You should rest your foot while you can."

If Sasuke was bothered by his tone, he didn't show it. He sat back on the couch and rolled his leg up. Naruto crouched nearby to take a look.

"Take the sock off," he instructed.

Sasuke propped his leg over the knee of the other one and took the sock off, slowly and carefully, frowning. Naruto pressed softly at the edges of the swelling flesh, causing a wince.

"Sorry," he murmured. "I don't think it's fractured, but you should see a doctor just in case."

It looked a little more swollen on the inside of the ankle, so Naruto carefully pressed the ice he prepared on that side, over a kitchen rug he brought back with him. The hot water bag, flexible in a way a chunk of ice could never be, was bending in all the necessary places, covering curves of the bruised ankle perfectly. Sasuke hissed at the sensation, but he didn't move away or try to stop him.

Naruto let the bag rest there. He sat back on the balls of his knees, rapidly growing uncomfortable and anxious without anything to do. He wanted to call Sakura. He would have, but she was working on the other side of the town, there was no way she could arrive in time.

But he had Sasuke in his apartment. He was sitting in Naruto's couch, letting his back fall back a little, just enough to brush the headrest with his hair, his eyes were almost closed and he was keeping his fingers lightly on the bag on his ankle, as if making sure it would stay there.

_If we were in one of my dreams right now, I would be kissing him._

The thought was pleasant for a really short time. He did have a dream like this, didn't he? He couldn't remember anything about Sasuke hurting his ankle, but just that morning, didn't he have a dream in which Sasuke was sitting on his couch and Naruto was on the floor just before gathering courage and practically climbing on top of him? Sasuke didn't kiss him back right away but when he did…

Even though just something from a dream, a kiss like that isn't something you could easily forget. Pieces falling together to make your life complete, the odd mixture of emotion that would be more fitting for old lovers getting back together than for two people who barely know each other kissing for the first time…

"Naruto? What is it?"

They weren't even that close, but when Sasuke straightened a little in the couch, Naruto flinched away from him like he was expecting a hit. He got up on his feet instantly, panicking on some level and yelling at himself to stop running away on another.

"I've got to go?" he squeaked.

"What?"

"To feed the cat!"

"…You have a cat?"

"Yes – no!" Naruto took a deep breath to calm down and lower the tone of his voice at the look of utter confusion and bafflement he got. "It's not my cat. It's someone else's. But it's very hungry and I – and I have to feed it."

"Now?"

"Yes," Naruto said with relief. "Yes, now."

Sasuke frowned, obviously annoyed and took the bag off his ankle. Naruto cursed. He forgot that there was a good reason Sasuke was there. Shit.

"No, no," he improvised. "The cat is… someplace else. I'm going to go there and you – you stay here."

Sasuke ignored him, testing his foot by applying some pressure on it. He made a grimace but pushed himself off the couch. Naruto, feeling guilty, pressed him back into the sitting position.

Sasuke whipped him with a single glance and tried to get up despite Naruto literally holding him down.

"Don't be stupid," Naruto murmured. "I have a really good reason for this, I swear."

Alight, maybe the reason wasn't that good. He panicked. And he completely forgot Sasuke'd sprained his ankle. He was pretty sure that it was more his 'hush, you little hurt animal' tone than his words that made Sasuke stop struggling, anyway.

It was sweet, somehow. Naruto bit into his lip to keep from smiling too widely as Sasuke frowned at him.

And in the back of his mind, he wondered if kissing Sasuke would really feel as amazing as it did in the dream.

The urge to smile squashed, Naruto let go of Sasuke's shoulders and stepped back.

"So, I'll go," he said. "Because of the cat. And you stay."

"What the hell am I supposed to do at your place while you're off _feeding a cat_?" Sasuke demanded through gritted teeth.

"Rest your foot. Don't go to my bedroom." That was maybe a wrong thing to say, but as Naruto was retreating backwards to the door at admirable speed, he wasn't really thinking about what he was coming out from his mouth. It was just important that Sasuke doesn't speak again. "Call taxi later. Leave my keys in my mailbox; it's broken. It was really nice seeing you! Sorry about the ankle! Bye!"

Naruto let the door close with a bang after him, practically ran out on the street and glanced left and right, trying to decide what would be the quickest way to get to Sakura.

IiIiIiIiIiI

All of a flutter, Naruto practically ran into the gallery.

"She's labeling some shipments we've got today," Sakura's colleague told him, blinking in confusion as he tried to catch his breath. She knew him well enough to know who he'd had to be looking for, so he didn't have to ask.

"In here?" Naruto asked, through the door before he had a chance to answer. Sakura was in the storage area, under the gallery. It was cool and bright there, as all the lights were on.

Naruto choose an aisle, searching for a familiar head of bright hair between the crates and hills of wrapping brown paper. It was a creepy place with a loud echo, high ceiling and passages between the high, well-stocked shelves that always reminded him of the catacombs near the shore that were opened for public. Of course, the storage room for the art pieces had a much better condition than that; the air was always dry and fresh.

He saw Sakura writing something in a small book, looking elegant and professional. She heard him approaching.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working?"

Naruto, feeling better after the run and with her around, hopped up on an unopened crate, "Something's happened. And I've made a mess out of it."

Sakura looked at her watch, "What? At the school?"

"You're not taking me seriously," Naruto complained.

"You made a mess out of something. Hard not to take it seriously, it happens too often," Sakura muttered, but she put her writing pad away. "You're sitting on half a million worth sculpture."

Eyes wide, Naruto jumped off the crate and inspected it for any signs of damage.

"Just kidding," Sakura said. "What happened?"

Maybe she was kidding, but Naruto decided that it was safer to remain standing.

"Sasuke."

"Another dream?"

"No," Naruto explained. "I actually saw him. He's at my place."

Sakura frowned, "You found him? So soon?"

"I never looked for him! As I told you I wouldn't! He just, he was there when I took the third year out to the park. We had a bit of a – collision."

She laughed incredulously, "Seriously? You bumped into each other?"

"He startled me, and then lost his balance and sprained his ankle –"

"Wait, wait," Sakura interrupted. "You said that he was at your apartment. Right now?"

"Well, yeah. He sprained his ankle. What was I supposed to do?"

"Right, okay, I get that part," she approved. Sort of. "But what are _you_ doing _here_? Don't tell me you left him at your apartment?"

"Er – I told you I made a mess, didn't I?"

"Naruto! I can't believe you! Go back there! It's not his fault you've been having strange dreams!"

Naruto made a face. He knew that she was right. Maybe Sasuke has even called a taxi and went – away, to wherever he was staying or living now.

"It's more complicated than that," he muttered. Sakura crossed her arms; she is willing to listen, but he'd better make it good. "I had a dream this morning. A – you know, a kissing dream. He was at my place, sitting on my couch and I was kneeling on the floor before him. We were talking about how we haven't seen each other for a long time and then…"

"And then you were kissing, yeah, I get it. And you actually met him and he was actually at your place…"

"He was actually at my place, on my couch and I was putting ice bag on his ankle, kneeling on the floor before him! What are the chances, Sakura?"

She opened her mouth, wrinkled her forehead in thought. Naruto attempted to relax. She was on it. She'll tell him if it's just a freak coincidence or not.

"Did it go like that the dream?"

"Is that a sleazy way of asking if there was some kissing?"

"More or less."

Naruto sighed, "Don't you think I'd start there, if there was?"

"Point," Sakura acknowledged. "But the rest? The clothes, the conversation, little things?"

"I don't remember the little things all that well. It was daylight in the dream – as it was now and I'm pretty sure he was sitting in about the same position. But…"

But he wasn't completely sure.

"You still have to go back."

"I doubt he'd still be there if I went home now. I told him I had to go feed a cat."

"Ouch," Sakura laughed. "A cat, really? Whose cat?"

"I didn't say. Yours, I guess. As I came to you and all. Which reminds me, he recognized your work on sight."

She looked flattered, but she said, "Well, it's unique."

They both fell quiet for a moment.

"Go home, Naruto," Sakura finally said, picking up her writing pad. "If he's still there, don't make an idiot out of yourself again. Tell him a colleague of yours is keeping a cat with kittens in the shad behind the school, but he hasn't come to work today, so it was your duty to feed it. If he's not there, make sure he hasn't read your journal or something – if you have one. Either way, my shift will be finished in an hour and I'll come straight to your place after, okay?"

Naruto gave her a sheepish smile and turned to leave. She called after him, "And next time, just excuse yourself to the bathroom and call me on the phone, okay?"

He nodded and waved, leaving her behind in the air-conditioned catacombs.

* * *

><p>Naruto knew that Sasuke was gone before he entered the apartment, because his keys were in his mailbox. It was shut carefully closed and just like when Naruto fixed it himself, there was no sign that it was broken from the outside. He briefly wondered if Sasuke had to invest effort into adjusting the lid just so or it came naturally for him, like things used to.<p>

There was no sign that anyone but Naruto had been in the apartment. His pajama bottoms was still lying across the armrest and the dirty plate was still in on the table, just as he had left them that morning. There was no sign of the ice bag. Naruto looked for it around the dining room, the kitchen. He found it back in the freezer.

It was a little creepy. No sign at all that Sasuke had ever been there.

Where was Sakura?

Should he check with the third year in the morning if there was someone with him in the park that day or it was only in his head? How do you go about asking that, anyway?

He had a nutty, nauseating feeling about the entire thing, like he was sucked into a scene dreamed up by Hitchcock or something. More and more disconcerted, Naruto kept looking for a sign, for any change at all. The cover on the couch was maybe a tad bit too neatly set, but that wasn't that strange, right? There was nothing missing from the bookshelf, all the frames were standing as they always did, the books Sakura gave him over the years, the notebooks he was using to keep track of the kids in school, the disks. Everything in its place – or as close as it ever was.

Finally, on the notepad next to the phone, he found a number penned in a vaguely familiar handwriting. He dialed it, feeling a lot better. It was kind of eerie for a few minutes there. He was half convinced the dreams had finally gotten to him and that he was starting to hallucinate. The numbers got through to a taxi station, which dispelled the last of Naruto's unease. He apologized to the dispatcher.

Sakura came a little less than half an hour later. By then, Naruto had decided that he had to see Sasuke again. And next time he'd talk to him properly.

Or kiss him.

* * *

><p><em>"Shush," Naruto showed with a finger against his lips.<em> Don't talk. Don't ask me anything. I've got to do this. It's now or never.

_It made no sense, yet Sasuke followed the instructions. There was a box in his hands. He put it on the flat, empty surface of the only desk in the room. Naruto could only guess that there were some private items in it; the lid was closed. _

_Window behind Sasuke was large, clearer than any glass Naruto had ever seen before. Through it, he could see tops of many trees. Up in the distance, the sky over the sea was endless and blue. It was a truly excellent view from Sasuke's new office._

_But Naruto couldn't care too much about it at the moment. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, in question, in doubt. Naruto pressed his finger to his lips again, just to be sure, and stepped further into the room. It wasn't that big and only a few steps later he was standing right in front of a frowning Sasuke. _

_"What?" Sasuke said anyway. His voice was soft and careful, though. _

_"Seriously," Naruto answered. "Shush. Just for a minute?"_

_Sasuke made an impatient gesture with his hand. Wordlessly. Naruto reached out and grasped his hand in midair. He stroked the skin with his thumb and looked back at Sasuke, who was just a little bit taller than he was. Still. _

_Naruto smiled, propped himself to his toes to gain advantage and without further ado leaned in and pressed his mouth against Sasuke's._

IiIiIiIiI

"Do you remember," Sakura said three days after the marathon, while they were sitting on her terrace with legs hanging from the knees down and with cooled pop in hands. "When I made you guys kiss in – what grade was it again?"

She was leaning backwards on her elbows and squinting against the sunshine. The sky was unusually bright that afternoon.

"No," Naruto answered. She should know he did – or sort of did. They talked about it just last week. Then, "You were such a bitch."

"I grew on you, though."

"Once you stopped trying to be popular, you did."

She sighed, "I was a moron. But do you remember? That day at my house? It was a birthday part, I think…"

"No."

"You're lying."

"I don't remember it," Naruto repeated. His apartment had a much better view than Sakura's and it was on ground floor. There was a new, covered in mirror glass building across the street from where they were sitting now and all he could do was either watch their crooked reflections or crane his neck and peer down at the passengers. "I mean, I do, but it's no longer the way it happened, I think. It got blurry. I remember something else now."

She intended to ask for details, that much was obvious. But before she managed to open her mouth, the phone rang in the apartment. Sakura stood up, giving him a look that could only be translated as 'do not move an inch'. The French door was left ajar after her, just so that it reflected the sun off the building across on Naruto. He put the sunglasses on and lay back on the red towel to listen unintelligible buzz of Sakura's conversation.

When she came back, Sakura kneeled down on her own blue towel.

"Tell me," she said, almost distractedly, as if her mind wasn't all there. "You said, most of the dreams are like spin offs of your memories?"

"When they're not about the future, anyway."

His words were slightly dry, but he was still pretty sure I couldn't be a coincidence that he had dreamed about Sasuke in his apartment almost in detail of how it happened later that day.

"Right. And have all of those memories grown fuzzy?"

Naruto thought about it. "Some more than the others. The more I dream about the event, the blurrier it becomes. Because every dream about the same thing is the same, you know? Happens more than once, while the real thing…" he trailed off. She was nodding.

"Have you had any more dreams since you saw him? I mean, you told me about that one, with the office, but…" Sakura's eyes were more focused as she scanned his face. "I mean, no insult, but you look much better. Rested."

"Yeah, I had a few. About one per night, if that much."

They were also less intense, less vivid. He'd woken up from them without that horrible feeling of loss, savage tightening in his chest. There was only one exception, that odd dream that Naruto thought might be about the future; the one in an office where he asked Sasuke to stay quiet so they wouldn't ruin anything. He'd told Sakura all about it.

"Huh," Sakura concluded.

"What? Who was that on the phone, anyway?"

"A friend."

"You're acting weird," Naruto complained.

Sakura blinked a few times and laughed weakly, "Sorry. It's just so weird, you know?"

"Who was on the phone?"

"Told you, a friend," Sakura repeated, but there was humour glittering in her eyes now. "Look, you googled the info about Sasuke and called his firm…"

"They wouldn't tell me anything."

"They told_ me_ that he wasn't working for them anymore," Sakura said. She was crossing from worried directly into gleeful. "But nothing else. So I asked this friend from the gallery in their town for a favor. She went and said she was a client of Sasuke's and wanted to hire him for another lawsuit."

Naruto had removed his glasses long before she finished, excited. "And?"

"And, he's just transferred, a few weeks ago, to a really good firm here in town."

Naruto opened his mouth to tell her that he had a dream about Sasuke unpacking his things in an office… But she knew about that. He'd told her already, described the scene. Sasuke's things in a box, the window behind him, the view…

The view?

"They didn't give her the exact address, though, but I figured, we can call all firms in the phonebook…"

"No need," Naruto interrupted, standing up. "I know which one it is."

Sakura followed him up, "You do? Which one is it?"

They walked into the apartment. It was a little cold and dark to be so suddenly off the sun. Naruto maneuvered through her apartment to avoid the furniture, half blind, explaining, "Well, I don't know how it's called, but I know the building. _You_ know the building. It's the one that looks across the park down at the ocean."

Not that he had ever seen the view from it. But it was the only one standing there that was tall enough you could see as you went from the beach or any other lower part of the town toward park.

"Wait, is this from a dream?"

Sakura was following him out to the hallway. Naruto glanced at her, "They were reliable this far, weren't they? I can at least try."

"Alright, but how will you know which floor?"

She had stopped as he continued down the stairs so she was yelling. He yelled back, "I'll think of something!"

He took a cab. It gave him a moment to think about what he should say, what he should do. Where he should look. It looked like Sasuke's office was pretty high, but it was a twelve stories building. There was no way to be sure. Maybe they had one of those uniformed guys with strange hats at the door that he could ask? Or was that just for hotels? Still, there must be reception of some sort…

At high noon on the weekend, the traffic was barely existent. The taxi arrived before Naruto managed to sort things out in his head. In the suitably movie fashion, he left far too much money to the driver.

There was no reception. It was one of those buildings with many business housed. Naruto looked around until he spotted a uniformed man near the doors. It was a guard.

"Hey, sorry," he said, smiling his most charming smile. "Do you happen to know which floor is that law firm?"

"Which one?"

"The, the one…" …that just got a new employee? The one that's looking out on the ocean? "I'm pretty sure they told me it's really high up."

The guard shrugged, "There is one on the second floor and one on the tenth."

That was all Naruto needed. He hastily thanked the guy for his help and boarded the elevator that would take him to the tenth floor. It wasn't too hard to find the hall with offices looking on the right side. He just had to walk thought the wide part of the hallways that was like reception. The blonde at the nearest desk to the elevators opened her mouth to speak, but Naruto ignored her. She ended up not saying anything.

Naruto snickered to himself as he opened the door of the first office. The things overconfidence can accomplish… A few people looked at him, startled. He apologized quickly and retreated. The second office was empty. The third office…

Yeah, he found Sasuke there. As Naruto burst inside in his hurry, Sasuke looked up at him. He didn't seem startled like those people. Still, he raised his eyebrow in question and opened his mouth.

"Shush!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke wasn't supposed to say anything just yet.

Maybe he was too loud or something, because unlike in the dream, Sasuke said anyway, "What? What are you doing here?"

"Testing a theory," Naruto said. He was doing just that, wasn't he? It didn't matter he wasn't sure what the theory exactly was. "Just stay there, okay. Don't move and I'll come over there. Alright?"

Sasuke didn't confirm, but he placed the box in his hand – closed box, the same one from Naruto's dream, _fuck _– on the desk. Naruto stepped inside, glancing through the window over Sasuke's shoulder. There it was, the ocean and the sky over treetops. A surreal feeling made Naruto falter a little. He steadied himself and looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke was standing next to his desk. Unmoving. Silent. Just like Naruto asked him.

The feeling went away. All that was left was to test the theory.

So Naruto crossed that last few feet between them, took Sasuke's face in both of his hands and kissed him.

Or he pressed his lips against Sasuke's and waited a bit. Nothing happened. No reaction… He used it to actually finish the oddly chaste kiss. Then moved away to look at Sasuke's face. He was frowning. Naruto bit his lip, but it was kind of nice standing like that, with Sasuke's temples warm under his fingers and stay strands of hair caught between so he didn't want like moving away.

"I'm having," Sasuke said quietly, "a bizarrely strong sense of déjà vu."

Naruto laughed. It sounded a little weak, but he couldn't help it. "But you're not having bizarrely strong urges to hit me or something, right?"

Sasuke looked at him. He was a little bit taller. There was a moment of nothing but staring between them and then Naruto felt Sasuke's hand on his hip. "It wasn't _that_ bad."

"Right," Naruto said. Should he explain? He should. He peered up at Sasuke, who was still frowning and ended up offering, "I can do better."

"I know," Sasuke answered, the frown lines disappearing as he licked his lips. His hand somehow crept to cup Naruto's face while he was too busy looking as Sasuke leaned in. His lips were soft and cool from the moist and Naruto sighed when they brushed his. He opened his mouth, whimpering from the eager anxiety somewhere inside. Sasuke bit on his lower lip, gently; he nibbled and soothed away the nonexistent pain with his tongue.

By the time Sasuke retreated a bit, Naruto had to breathe through his mouth because it just felt like he couldn't take in enough oxygen. He was panting, from nothing more than that hint of a kiss and Sasuke smirked a little before leaning in again. He bit into Naruto's upper lip shortly, as if for nothing more than to satisfy some inner need for symmetry before finally kissing him properly. It was almost a surprise after the genteelness of the teasing, his tongue almost an invasion – if it wasn't so warm and if Naruto wasn't kissing back instantly.

The smells and taste mixed made his mind sway. Naruto stepped forward blindly, to find a support in Sasuke. A jerk, thud and grunt broke the kiss and Naruto blinked at the loss. Sasuke hit the desk behind him.

Naruto stepped closer again, nestling himself between Sasuke's legs as the hand on his hip found a way up under his shirt. He shuddered and kissed again, and again, and again, until it felt that it was only the desk what was keeping them upward.

It wasn't enough, but he couldn't make himself break off the kiss. He needed to touch, he needed for his hands to trace Sasuke's skin without the cloth between them, he needed to press in, to feel warm breath on his neck, chest, he needed so much more than just kissing, yet he couldn't break it off, not even for a second.

Sasuke apparently could and he did break off, gasping and bucking his hips forward. Relived he was given a chance to, Naruto licked his neck, jaw, that sensitive part just under Sasuke's ear. Sasuke shuddered on the contact, titling his head to give a better excess and Naruto smirked, gleeful.

It was like a bucket of cold water when he realized what he was doing. No, no - when he realized that it wasn't instinct, that he knew which part of Sasuke's neck to kiss to get that reaction. Naruto stilled his wandering hand and took a few long breathes without moving.

Sasuke tried to look at his face, but neither actually moved to break apart.

Finally, Naruto remembered what, exactly, Sasuke had said before they started kissing. He whispered, "You know?"

"What?"

"You said…" Naruto moved so he could see Sasuke's face. "You said you knew I could do better. But we never…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. It was not nearly ridiculous as it should have been with his face flushed. "How did you know where to find me?"

"What's that has to do with anything?" Naruto demanded, unsure if that question was random. He could sure see the connection to the conversation but…

"What was the theory you were testing?" Sasuke insisted. His palms on Naruto's sides curved into fists and dig into his flesh. "Why are you here? Were you looking for me?"

"Yes," Naruto answered, considering Sasuke's narrowed, upset eyes. He could say that Sakura sent a friend to his old firm. Should he? Or maybe he should tell the truth.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I was looking for you. The theory…" Naruto glances away. "I asked the question first, you know. You answer mine and I'll answer yours."

For a really long, tense moment, Naruto through he wouldn't get a response at all, let alone the answer to his question. He added in a whisper, looking at Sasuke's face again, "Did you really know? Or was it just something to say?"

"Neither," Sasuke answered, nearly as quietly as Naruto asked. He took in a long breath, uncoiled his hands until Naruto could feel the warm, damp palms under his shirt again and finally said, "It's nothing. I've been having some weird dreams lately."

Oh. God.

That was all Naruto's brain could come up with before he blurted, "Kissing dreams?"

He didn't need to hear the answer to that. The shock on Sasuke's face told him everything and he laughed.

"How did you know that?" Sasuke demanded.

Still laughing, Naruto made himself move one hand off him to wave around, "The same way I knew where to find you. "

"Which is?"

There was an edge in the question now, but Naruto didn't care much. He was still chuckling as he leaned to give that very sensitive spot on Sasuke's neck one more lick. There was no resistance and he said, mustering a conspiring tone somehow, "I've been having these weird dreams lately."

"Not funny," Sasuke hissed, but Naruto ignored him.

"Kissing dreams. Dreams about kissing _you,_" he emphasized, still talking to Sasuke's neck, between licks and kisses he was leaving. "Sounds familiar?"

"It's really odd."

"Tell me I'm not crazy," Naruto insisted. "I had a dream of kissing you here, in this office. I've never been here before. But you had that same box in your hands and the view from that window behind you is exactly the same."

"Then what happened?"

"I shushed you and you let me kiss you."

Sasuke licked his lips, "And then?"

"Then?" Then what? "Then I woke up. That's when I wake up, every time."

"Hmm."

It was a suspicious little noise. Gloating, somehow. Amused.

Naruto had no time to ponder about it. Sasuke's hands slid down his sides, grabbed his ass and yanked him until they were closer than ever, close enough for Naruto's hard cock to get some delicious friction against Sasuke's crotch. He groaned, delighted and with conversation already fading from his mind.

"Interesting," Sasuke said softly, almost against Naruto's mouth. "My dreams don't end up for quite awhile after the kissing."

"Fuck," Naruto gasped, finding a better angle.

Sasuke hummed again, "Yes, I wake up after that."

"Tell me. Show me." Naruto demanded. "Let's get out of here."

Hands on his ass eased a little. Naruto found his way under Sasuke's shirt in the meantime, caressed the skin there, found a nipple and, when Sasuke failed to answer a long moment, scraped over with his fingernail.

"Can't show you if we get out of here."

But Sasuke was moving already, and Naruto followed, staying close. The dreams were fascinating. But they didn't seem very essential at the moment. All he wanted – all he needed was consummation. To not stop touching Sasuke. To touch him more intimately. To breathe him and explore him and leave marks on his skin.

But when they were walking out the door, still joined in places, he leaned in a little more to promise, "We can always come back here later."

Sasuke smirked shortly at him over his shoulder and Naruto followed him out with a smile. First things first but then, later on…

He was quite curious about what, exactly, Sasuke had been dreaming about.


End file.
